Marcus came in with a 1.9. Three incompletes from the previous semester, a professor he was avoiding, and a probation hold on registration. His first instinct was to drop two courses and retake them in summer. We didn't do that.
The audit revealed that two of his three struggling courses had final exams worth 45% of the grade. The semester wasn't over — it was barely half over. We mapped the remaining assignments across all five courses, ranked them by point value, and built a six-week sprint plan with specific daily blocks.
The professor he was avoiding had a late-submission policy buried in the syllabus: 10% per day, maximum 50% reduction. He submitted three late papers in week four. Took the penalty. Still passed the course with a B-minus.
Final GPA: 3.2. Probation hold lifted. The following semester — without coaching — he made the Dean's List.